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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the old woman who enters Nur's room while he and Imtiaz are fighting say to Imtiaz?

2. In Chapter 2, how do people on the bus behave when Deven says he is a teacher?

3. Why did Deven's mother send him to live in Delhi when he was young?

4. Who is Manu?

5. What color are the tiles in Nur's room?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Murad say about the food when Deven takes him out for lunch after his lectures in Chapter 1?

2. How does Deven feel about Nur's letter asking him to be his secretary? Describe Murad and Deven's discussion regarding this matter in Chapter 5.

3. What does Deven do for work? What does Murad do for work? How or why did they each come by these jobs?

4. What scene does Deven encounter when he follows Nur and the sounds of screaming during his first visit in Chapter 3?

5. How does Deven react when Murad tells him he will not be going to Nur's with him? What does Murad do to try to appease his friend?

6. What does Nur tell his groups of friends Deven is there to do during his first visit in Chapter 3?

7. Why does Deven go to the college rather than home when he first returns to Mirpore after his first visit to Delhi? What does he do at the college?

8. How does Murad poke fun at Deven when he offers him one of his two cigarettes in Chapter 1?

9. What is Chandni Chowk like? What is Deven surprised Nur lives there?

10. How did Deven and Sarla come to be married? In what ways is their marriage different from how Sarla imagined?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Pick a character from the novel and discuss their goals and motives. Do they achieve their motive? Do they share similar goals and motives with other characters? Do their goals clash with other characters? How do the characters' goals and motives affect their interaction with each other?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing the narrative structure of In Custody. What effect does this have on the story and the reader? Use direct examples from the story to support your analysis.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Desai’s focus on the theme of being trapped as presented in the novel.

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